Why Your Podcast Goals Are Setting You Up to Quit
Most B2B podcasters invest 6 to 12 months and thousands of dollars before realizing the goal they started with was the wrong one.
Published April 23, 2026
Most B2B podcasters invest 6 to 12 months and thousands of dollars before realizing the goal they started with was the wrong one.
That is the real podcast failure story. Not bad audio. Not inconsistent publishing. The problem is misaligned expectations from day one. Joseph Lewin has launched shows for dozens of B2B clients, and the pattern is almost always the same: teams say they want audience growth or thought leadership, but what they actually need is revenue. When the deals do not close, the show dies. This episode breaks down the three goals you can realistically pursue with a B2B podcast, and which one you should probably be honest about wanting.
What should B2B podcasters know about setting the right goals?
The goal you choose determines the strategy you run. Getting this wrong is expensive.
- Revenue is almost always the real goal: Most clients say they want audience growth, but after 6 to 9 months of spend with no closed deals, the show stops. Be honest about what you actually need the show to do for your business.
- The revenue play centers on the guest, not the host: The most effective revenue-driving format invites ideal customers onto the show, focuses on their expertise, and turns the recording experience into a relationship that opens doors to real conversations.
- Audience growth is genuinely hard, even with great content: Joseph has accumulated over 100 million views across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook on a non-business channel. His takeaway is that growing an audience is "insanely hard," even with visually compelling, high-energy content.
- Thought leadership works only as a supplement: A podcast amplifies existing thought leadership. If you are not already speaking at events, writing, or building authority through other channels, a podcast alone will not create those opportunities.
- The three goals are not mutually exclusive, but focus matters: You will see results in the area you actually prioritize. Splitting attention across all three without a primary goal is a reliable way to get results in none of them.
- Charisma is a real variable, not a minor detail: Audience growth requires a strong personality, a willingness to entertain, and significant production investment per episode. If that is not you yet, the revenue play lets you build camera confidence while the show still works for the business.
Why do most B2B podcasts fail to drive revenue?
Most B2B podcasts fail to drive revenue because they are built around the wrong subject. The host talks about their own expertise, their own opinions, their own industry perspective. That format might build some authority over time, but it is not designed to open doors with buyers.
The revenue-driving format flips that entirely. Instead of making the show about what you know, you make it about what your ideal customer cares about. You invite them on. You ask about their expertise. You make the experience so valuable for them that the relationship becomes the pipeline.
"You're really focusing on how do we maximize the relationship with this guest and make the experience for them so amazing that they wanna do business with me." Joseph Lewin
This is not a content strategy. It is a sales strategy with a microphone. The show is the conversation opener. The trust gets built in the recording, the prep call, the follow-up. The revenue follows the relationship, not the download count.
How hard is it to actually grow a podcast audience?
It is harder than almost anyone admits before they start. Joseph runs a content channel completely separate from his B2B work. He cuts things with chainsaws, burns logs, builds projects on camera. Across four platforms, that channel has crossed 100 million views.
His conclusion from that experience: growing an audience is "insanely hard," even with visually dynamic, high-energy content designed specifically to perform on social platforms. For a B2B podcast, where the content is typically a conversation between two people, the difficulty is even higher.
Audience growth requires treating the show like a media property. You are not just a business owner with a podcast. You are functioning as an entertainer and a publisher. That means investing real time in planning each episode, developing a point of view that is genuinely interesting, and building other distribution channels like email lists and speaking engagements to drive people to the show in the first place.
If that description fits you and you are willing to commit 12 to 18 months before expecting business results, audience growth is a legitimate path. But the math has to be honest going in.
When does a thought leadership podcast actually work?
A thought leadership podcast works when it is layered on top of other credibility-building activity. It does not work as the primary engine for creating that credibility.
If you are already speaking at conferences, you have written a book, you are getting quoted in your industry, the podcast becomes a powerful supplement. It gives your audience another access point. It deepens the authority you are already building through those other channels. It creates content that reinforces why people should trust you.
The mistake is assuming the podcast will generate the speaking invitations, the book deal, or the inbound interest on its own. It is a force multiplier. It is not a starting point.
"If you're not doing those other things already, thinking that a podcast is going to all of a sudden create those other opportunities is just not realistic." Joseph Lewin
The sequence matters. Build the authority first. Use the podcast to amplify it.
FAQ
What is the best goal for a B2B podcast?
For most B2B businesses, revenue is the most practical and sustainable goal. Audience growth and thought leadership take 12 to 18 months to produce measurable business results, and most organizations stop investing before they get there. A revenue-focused show produces pipeline activity much earlier in the process.
How do you use a podcast to generate revenue in B2B?
The most effective approach is to invite your ideal customers onto the show as guests, focus the conversation on their expertise, and create an experience valuable enough that it builds real trust. The show becomes the reason for the first conversation, and the relationship that develops through the process is what drives the deal forward.
How long does it take for a B2B podcast to grow an audience?
Realistically, 12 to 18 months of consistent publishing, combined with other distribution channels like email and speaking engagements. Joseph Lewin notes that even with over 100 million views on a separate content channel, growing an audience remains âinsanely hard.â A podcast alone, without additional traffic sources, will not build an audience quickly.
Can a podcast build thought leadership on its own?
Not effectively, according to Joseph Lewin. A podcast works as a thought leadership tool when it supplements existing authority-building activity like speaking, writing, or public-facing work. If you are not already doing those things, a podcast will not create the opportunities on its own.
What should I do if I want to grow an audience but I'm not confident on camera yet?
Start with the revenue-focused format. Invite guests you want to do business with, interview them, and focus on making the experience excellent for them. You will build camera confidence over time while the show is already producing pipeline activity. Then, once you have developed your on-camera presence, you are in a much stronger position to pursue audience growth.
The thesis here is simple. The goal you set before you launch determines everything: the format, the guest strategy, the timeline, and whether you are still running the show 18 months from now. Most B2B teams want revenue. The honest move is to build for that from day one, invite the right people into the conversation, and let the relationship do the work that no content strategy ever will.
If you want to think through which goal is right for your show, or if you have been running a show for months and the results do not match the expectations, that is the conversation worth having before you record another episode.
About the host
Joseph Lewin
Host of B2B On Air ¡ The Podcast Launch Guy | 45 B2B Podcasts Launched | Hosts Iâve worked with have closed over $17M in revenue | 100 Million Views On My Personal Social Video
Transcript
Read the full transcript
Joseph Lewin [0:00]
Whatâs worse than not starting a podcast? Itâs starting a podcast, running it for 6 to 12 months, and then realizing that the goal that you set out from the beginning or the expectation that you had was wrong, and therefore you didnât get the results that you were looking for. Thatâs way worse âcause now youâve invested all this time and energy and money. Welcome to B2B On Air. Iâm your host, Joseph Lewin, and today Iâm gonna be talking about 3 of the most common goals that you should think about when launching your show, or if youâve been running a show for a while, you might wanna think about this and make sure that your goals align with the expectations that you have. Now, there are some other things that you could do, some other types of podcasts or reasons youâd launch a podcast, but these are
the 3 main ones. The first one is you wanna drive revenue. You want this to actually bring revenue into your business. The second one is audience growth. Now thereâs a lot of reasons that you might wanna do that, but you could kinda chunk this into a brand play. You do it long enough, youâre going to gain a reputation, itâs gonna make it easier to sell, and maybe youâll get some inbound from it. And the third one would be thought leadership. And this is going to be primarily your host growing their authority and their thought leadership in your space. Now these three goals are not mutually exclusive, but whichever one you focus on is, is the area youâre most likely to see results. And as much as I hear people say, yeah, we wanna grow an audience. Thatâs what our primary goal is. Or I, we
wanna grow thought leadership. And thatâs so important. What Iâve found is that almost every single time I launch a podcast with a, with a client, what they actually want is revenue because you get 6 months or 9 months in of spending a couple grand a month. Running a show for a client and they donât actually see a deal close, man, itâs hard to convince them to continue going for another 6, 12, 18 months itâs going to take for them to get the other results that they want from growing an audience or thought leadership. By saying that, Iâve kind of already let the cat out of the bag, but I donât want to dismiss these other two goals because sometimes people actually donât want to generate revenue, and then these other two options are super viable. Okay, so again, that would be Goal 1, driving revenue.
If you wanna drive revenue through your show, the most effective way that I have seen to do that is to create a show, not about your own expertise or your, or the things you care about, but figuring out what is it that your ideal customer actually cares about? What do they love talking about? And invite them on your show to share their expertise. People love it. They love you for it. Youâre still going to gain authority and uh, brand awareness and audience over time, but then youâre really focusing on how do we maximize the relationship with this guest and make the experience for them so amazing that they wanna do business with me. With audience growth, so I have this content that I create that has nothing to do with B2B marketing. I cut things up with chainsaws and burn them and build things. And
across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, I have well over 100 million views at this point. And I can tell you that creating content thatâs going to catch in the algorithm and grow an audience is insanely hard. Even when youâre burning things, youâre doing something crazy thatâs visual, and you can have all these sceneâ scenes change all the time, itâs still really difficult. And so unless you have a very strong personality, and unless youâre going to be covering things that are really interesting and think about this as a, as a media property where youâre really an entertainer, growing an audience is extremely hard, but if you like doing that and you really want to invest in the storytelling and youâre willing to put in a couple hours per episode to plan and record it, then that really might be a good option. And over the course
of 12 to 18 months, it really can change your business, but you have to know that you need other ways to drive people to grow an audience. That would be email, speaking at events, et cetera. And then thought leadership. This play works really well if youâre speaking, if youâre doing other things that to grow your thought leadership, youâve written a book, youâre getting out there. And then the podcast is a supplement to those things that really helps solidify your thought leadership. But if youâre not doing those other things already, thinking that a podcast is going to all of a sudden create those other opportunities is just not realistic. And so what you have to do from the beginning is figure out which one of these 3 goals do I actually want to do and be realistic about it. If you want to grow an audience,
you have to really evaluate yourself and go, do I have the personality to make this happen? If you do lean into it, create some short videos and see where you get. If you donât, thatâs okay. You can still drive revenue for your business as you learn to do well on camera by starting a podcast to generate revenue, invite people, who you wanna do business with on your show, interview them, make them look good, make them feel good. Youâll get better on camera, and then youâre going to get revenue into your business before you keep going. Now, after this podcast, youâre gonna go, Joe, youâre incredibly biased. Yes, because Iâve done this a lot of times, and the amount of people who Iâve met who can actually grow an audience through their podcasts are really few, but Iâve worked with people who are not great on
camera yet. Theyâre not that charismatic. They donât have a strong point of view, and they outsell other podcasts because they started out with the right idea from the beginning. Thatâs my two cents. If you totally disagree, Iâd love to hear from you. Send me a DM, yell at me on LinkedIn. And with that, Iâll see you on the next episode.